Job Description Summary
This role is accountable for shaping and delivering the global SAP platform strategy and roadmap, ensuring that the SAP technology foundation is secure, resilient, scalable, compliant and ready to support business growth. The Global Head SAP Platforms provides end-to-end ownership of core SAP platform capabilities across SAP S/4HANA and ECC landscapes, SAP BTP, cloud and RISE services, integration, lifecycle management, technical architecture and platform engineering. The role ensures reliable services for BAU while enabling transformation, separation and M&A priorities.
The role provides strategic and visionary leadership for the SAP platform domain by establishing one technical authority, defining architecture guardrails, governing platform investments and maintaining a clear build-and-run accountability model with Infrastructure, Operations and strategic partners. It drives simplification, standardisation, clean-core adoption, automation, technical debt reduction and measurable value from the global SAP estate.
Job Description
Global Head SAP Technical Platforms
Sandoz continues to go through an exciting and transformative period as a global leader and pioneering provider of sustainable Biosimilar and Generic medicines. As we continue down this new and ambitious path, unique opportunities will present themselves, both professionally and personally. Join us, the future is ours to shape!
Job Summary
This role is accountable for shaping and delivering the global SAP platform strategy and roadmap, ensuring that the SAP technology foundation is secure, resilient, scalable, compliant and ready to support business growth. The Global Head SAP Platforms provides end-to-end ownership of core SAP platform capabilities across SAP S/4HANA and ECC landscapes, SAP BTP, cloud and RISE services, integration, lifecycle management, technical architecture and platform engineering. The role ensures reliable services for BAU while enabling transformation, separation and M&A priorities.
The role provides strategic and visionary leadership for the SAP platform domain by establishing one technical authority, defining architecture guardrails, governing platform investments and maintaining a clear build-and-run accountability model with Infrastructure, Operations and strategic partners. It drives simplification, standardisation, clean-core adoption, automation, technical debt reduction and measurable value from the global SAP estate.
Your Key Responsibilities
Your responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Major accountabilities:
Strategy, Roadmap and Business Value
- Define and continuously evolve the multi-year global SAP platform strategy and roadmap, aligned with enterprise technology direction, SAP CoE priorities and business transformation objectives.
- Priorities platform investments based on business value, resilience, compliance, lifecycle risk, transformation readiness, capacity and affordability.
- Create executive visibility through roadmap narratives, decision papers, governance dashboards, risk insights and value-realization updates.
Platform Architecture and Lifecycle Ownership
- Own end-to-end lifecycle accountability for the SAP platform landscape, from strategy and architecture through build, transition, optimization and retirement.
- Provide technical direction across SAP S/4HANA and ECC, SAP BTP, cloud, SAP BDC and RISE services, integration technologies and associated platform tooling.
- Establish platform standards and reusable patterns that support clean core, interoperability, scalability, security and simplification.
Transformation and Engineering Excellence
- Enable S/4HANA, data, integration, automation and intelligent ERP initiatives through stable and future-ready SAP platform capabilities.
- Govern solution design, high-level estimates, technical quality gates and platform readiness for strategic programs, BAU changes and M&A requirements.
- Drive automation, observability, operational engineering and continuous improvement to increase reliability and delivery speed.
Governance, Risk and Operational Reliability
- Define decision rights and a clear build-and-run model with Infrastructure and Operations, ensuring unambiguous ownership across the service lifecycle.
- Ensure adherence to enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, data privacy, regulatory, audit and business continuity requirements.
- Own platform risk management, major technical escalations and remediation plans, with transparent reporting and timely decisions.
Vendor, Financial and Team Leadership
- Lead internal teams, system integrators and technology partners, ensuring delivery quality, accountability, knowledge transfer and sustainable internal capability.
- Own platform budget planning, forecasting, vendor performance, SOW and invoice governance, and cost optimisation across run and change spend.
- Build a high-performing global capability community and coach platform owners and engineers on standards, governance and value-led delivery
SAP CoE and Cross-Domain Leadership
- Represent SAP Platforms & Services in SAP CoE governance and act as the technical authority for cross-domain platform decisions.
- Coordinate dependencies across applications, security, data, integration, infrastructure and transformation teams to prevent duplicated capabilities and fragmented designs.
- Translate SAP CoE principles into practical architecture guardrails, release gates, reusable patterns and operating routines.
Minimum Requirements
What you’ll bring to the role:
- 15+ years of experience in SAP technology platforms, including leadership of complex global SAP landscapes and major transformation programmes.
- Demonstrated expertise across SAP S/4HANA or ECC technical platforms, SAP BTP, cloud or RISE services, integration, lifecycle management and platform operations.
- Proven experience defining platform strategy, architecture guardrails, technical roadmaps and build-to-run operating models.
- Strong knowledge of clean-core principles, availability, performance, capacity, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, compliance and EOM/EOL management.
- Experience leading global internal teams, system integrators and multi-partner delivery environments.
- Proven ability to manage budgets, forecasts, vendor financials, SOWs, invoices and value realisation.
- Executive stakeholder management skills and the ability to translate technical complexity into clear decisions, risks and business outcomes.
- Experience operating within an SAP CoE and coordinating dependencies across applications, security, data, integration and infrastructure.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
- Relevant SAP platform, S/4HANA, cloud, BTP, architecture or IT service management certifications strongly preferred.
Why Sandoz?
Generic and Biosimilar medicines are the backbone of the global medicines industry. Sandoz, a leader in this sector, provided more than 900 million patient treatments across 100+ countries in 2024 and while we are proud of this achievement, we have an ambition to do more!
With investments in new development capabilities, production sites, new acquisitions, and partnerships, we have the opportunity to shape the future of Sandoz and help more patients gain access to low-cost, high-quality medicines, sustainably.
Our momentum is powered by an open, collaborative culture driven by our talented and ambitious colleagues, who, in return for applying their skills experience an agile and collegiate environment with impactful, flexible-hybrid careers, where diversity is welcomed and where personal growth is supported!
Join us!
#Sandoz
Skills Desired
Agile Project Management, Business Partnering, Change Management, IT Service Delivery, Performance Management, Talent Development
